Train-stop apparatus.



L. A. GLADDING & 1. H. SULLIVAN.

TRAIN STOP APPARATUS. 'APPLICATION FILED JUNE'IL I9I6.

Patented Oct. 23, 1917.

IAN/EN r0125 IA Gladi (Lug Jullt u BY W WITNESSES A TTORA/EYS LOUIS A. GLADDING, or new MILFORD, CONNECTICUT, AND JAMES H. SULLIVAN, OF NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND.

TRAIN-STOP APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 23, 191?.

Application filed June 17, 1916. Serial No. 104,185.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatwe, LOUIS A. GLADDING and J AMES H. SULLIVAN, citizens of the United States, and residents, respectively, of New Milford, in the county of Litchfield and State of Connecticut, and Newport, in

the county of Newport and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and Improved Train-Stop Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to a train stop apparatus for the purpose of bringing a train to a stop automatically under danger conditions of traffic.

The general objects of the invention are to provide an improved train stop apparatus which causes the automatic setting of the brake by throwing the engineers valve to brake-setting position when the condition of traflic is such that a roadside conductor is caused to be energized by a signal set to danger or stop position, when a drawbridge is open, a rail is broken, a switch open, etc., the engineers valve-operating means being of simple, inexpensive and novel construction and so designed as to be readily applied to the present type of'valves' without, however, interfering with the manual operation of thevvalve by the engineer.

With such objects in view, and others which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention comprises various novel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will be set forth with particularity in the following description and claims appended hereto. I

In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates one embodiment of the invention and wherein similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views,

Figure l is a diagrammatic View showing the interior of a locomotive cab with the electrically controlled throttle and engineers valves; I

Fig. 2 is a plan View of an electrically released controller for electrically propelled locomotives Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the actuating means for the engineers air brake valve; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side view of the actuating means for the controller or valve.

A locomotive A carries a current collector 1 so arranged as to engage an aerial conductor 2, a third rail or other suitable roadside contact, these conductors or contacts being arranged at suitable points along the railroad, as at signal towers, stations, drawbridges, switches or other places where protection against accidents or collisions is necessary. These conductors or contacts are adapted to be energized under traffic conditions which require the stoppage of a train, and when the collecting device 1 strikes an energized conductor the train is automatically brought to rest by the throwing off of the propelling power and by the setting of the brakes. In Fig. 1, 3 designates the lever of the throttle valve and 4 the handle of the engineers air brake valve, and associated with the lever 3 is an electromagnet 5 and with the handle 4 an electromagnet 6. The energizing of 'these electromagnets causes the throwing off of the propelling power and the setting of the brakes. The details of the means for electricallycontrolling the throttle need not here be disclosed in detail, as the same constitutes the subject matter of Letters Patent Number 1,171,426, granted to us on February 15, 1916, and of which the. present application is a division. The electromagnets are connected in series with each other, with the current collector 1, and with the axles or frame of the locomotive by wires 7, 8 and 9.

The engineers valve B is arranged on the upper end of a pipe or outlet standard 10, and on this pipe is an actuating or controlling device 0 for the handle 4; ofthe engineers valve. This device C comprises a bracket 11 fastened to the pipe, and pivoted at 12 is an oscillatory frame or lever 13 that swings in a horizontal plane with the extremity 14 so disposed as to engage the handle t to throw the same to air-released position, whereby the air is released from the train pipe and the brakes caused to set. The opposite extremity 15 is provided with an extension 16 which, as shown in Fig. 1:, has a depending lug or shoulder-17 that is adapted to engage a catch or stop 18- on the bracket 11. The catch 18 has an inclined surface with which the lug engages, and in riding up the surface the member 13 yields or is sprung out of its normal plane so as to drop when the lug -17 rides off the incline. The member 13 hassufiicicnt give on its pivot to allow this up and down movement for engaging or disengag the catch 18. The electromagnet 6 is so mounted that its armature 19 will, when the electroma-gnet is energized, engage the lug 17 and release it from the catch 18 by a lift ing movement. When this is done the lever .13 will be retracted and throw the lever in a direction shown by the arrow, Fig. 3, and

, reduces the ,7 with the catch 18. A retarding spring 21 is connected with the extremity 1 1 of the lever and with the bracket, so that during the movementv of the lever under the tension Ofthe sprin 20, the spring 21 gradually orce actin on the lever. In

returning the valve, han 1e 4: to air-holding position, the lever 13 automatically re-sets,

and in re-setting, the catch-engaging part 17 moves up the inclined facing of the catch 18, and finally the lug 17 snaps down behindthe catch so that the lever will be held in this position until the magnet is again energized. In Fig. 2 an electric con- -troller D is shown for use on electrically propelled locomotives or cars, and in this case, the controller 'lever or handle 22 is actuated by an oscillatory frame or lever 13%, the'a'ctuation of which is controlled by a magnet 6* and catch means, such as that shown in Fig. .4, so that When the electro 'magnet isenergized, the lever 13 is free to act under the tension of its spring 20, and as a consequence the controller handle 22 is moved from the dotted to the full-line position.

' From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, the advantages of the construction and method of operation will be readily under- 'StOOdl by those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, and while we masses Having thus described 'our invention, We

claim as new and deslre te' secure by Letters Patent: f A

1. Ina train stop apparatus, the combination of a swinging controller handle, an actuator swinging in the same plane with the handle and mounted on anaxis adjacent to and parallel with the axis of the handle, astationary catch intoand out of engagement with which the actuator moves in a direction transverse to its plane of swinging movement, said catch having an inclined surface along whichthe actuator moves to shift the actuator out of its normal plane and to cause it to drop into engaging position-with the catch an electromagnet, and means actuated by the electromagnet for releasing the actuator from the said catch.

2. In a train stop apparatus, the combination of a swinging controller handle, an actuator swinging in the same plane with the handle and mounted on an axis adjacent to and parallel with the axis of the handle, a stationary catch into and out of engagement with which the actuator moves in a direction transverse to its plane of swinging movement, said catch having an inclined surface along which the actuator moves to shift the actuator out of its normal plane and to cause it to drop into engaging position with the catch, and electrical means operative to release the actuator from the 

